KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF FEMALE BANKERS TOWARDS THE PRACTICE OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING

1.1 Introduction

Breastfeeding is considered the most complete nutritional source for infants, because, breast milk contains the essential fats, carbohydrates, proteins and immunological factors needed for infants to thrive and resist infection in the formative year. Cardwell and Barry, 2004, jones et al, 2003 in their analysis of child survival strategies, identified exclusive breastfeeding from b to u months as the single most effective preventive intervention in reducing child mortality with the potential of saving 1.3 million infants uses annually. Similary, leoan-cava et al (2003), have observed that improved breast feeding practices are crucial for child growth and development. However, advocate of breast feeding have noticed that there have been steady decline due to the behaviour of female bankers.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Infant feeding methods are a major determinant of infant nutritional status, which in turn, affects infant morbidity and mortality. Among feeding methods, breastfeeding is of particular importance because this practice is fundamental for growth, development, health and survival of infants. Diallo, Bell, Moutquine, & Garrant (2005) stated that about 5.6 million infants die annually because they do not receive adequate nutrition. Breastfeeding therefore has been classified by scientists and health workers as the best natural food for babies and breast milk contains all the necessary nutrients for the healthy growth of the child.

Wagner et al, (2005) have also observed that despite all the recommendations by experts as regard infants breast feeding for the first size months of life, a significant percentage of mothers choose not to breastfeed. Work and family conflict are the major concern to many, if not all, the most female bankers over the world. Most of the banking institution continue to spend resources in an attempt to help their staffs manage family duties and responsibilities at work place; however, work and family boundary (exclusive breastfeeding) have been the most challenging factor associated with female bankers in ikpoba hill, Benin city (cooner 2002)

Some may be due to work factor like female bankers who spend more time in the office. Results of studies conducted in developing countries has shown that, nutritional deficiency and growth retardation is a common occurrence amongst children between the age of 3 and 15 months old, owing to sub optional breastfeeding and poor complementary feeding practices (shrimptonetal 2001)

Parts of the efforts to promote inproved breastfeeding practices focused on hospital norms and services, legislations and institutional polices, health workers training, mass media campains, peer counselling and educating, mother to mother support and a combination of these strategies (Green,1999, till et al, 2004) (Quinn et, al, 2005). Specifically, the United States agency for international development (USAID) in 1996, issues a grant to the academy for international development to design and implement a 10-years program, known as the LINKAGES project, to improve breastfeeding practices rapidly and at scare. Unluckily this has not yielded and encouraging result. This is because in African countries, the national rate for early initiation of breastfeeding were low, with Ghana having the lowest rate (35%) following by Madagascar (34%)Quin et al, 2005) as it has been ensured that safety, optimum growth, health survival of the human infants; that duration of the breast feeding may also determine the strength of mother/child born and attachment, yet exclusive breast feeding is not being in full practices among female bankers because of the long time they spend in the office, and non-provision of curech by their management because of the risky environment where they work.

Breastfeeding decline significantly from 1900 to 1960 due to increasing negative attitude towards the practice and the development of infant formulas under modern health centres, human breast milks considered the healthiest form for milk for babies because of its numerous advantages over artificial formulas (National health services 2007).

Although breast feeding is natural, the current instant feeding practice are far from optimum because of lack of updated knowledge and training among medical and Para medical personnel, misconception in the community, misformation by infant food manufacturers and return to work, illness, breast engorgement and mastitis havelead to exposure of infants to infections like gastoententis and diorrhea which have resulted over a million death annually worldwide (Ghai, 2008).

Due to the above reason, baby friendly hospital initiative (BFHI) was launched in 199 as part of the “innocent declaration of 1991 our promotion, protection and support of breast feeding by WHO and UNICFE. Baby friendly hospital are conform to its ten steps for successful implementation of breastfeeding in the context of HIV, emergencies as well as expansion towards other type of health facilities and the community to discourage the use of breast milk substitute that and water within the first six months of infant life (WHO,2012). This has shown that excusive breast feeding is beneficial to babies, mothers, and even the community at large. However, it is a very challenging task to engage in especially for bankers

This research work intends to find out the roles and practices of exclusive breast feeding among female bankers in Ikpoba Okha L.G.A in Benin City Edo State who practices exclusive breast feeding.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Despite the effort and strategies that have been put in a place by WHO and UNICEF to increase awareness of exclusive breastfeeding through baby friendly hospitals initiatives in order to reduce complication associated with artificial feeding like respiratory and gastro intestinal infections. It has been observed by the researchers are still reluctant to practice exclusive breastfeeding due to work factor and environment.

Hence, the question “what is the knowledge and attitude of female bankers towards the attitude of exclusive breast feeding in IkpobaOkha L.G.A Benin city

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to assess the Knowledge and Attitude of Female Bankers towards the Practice of Exclusive Breastfeeding in Ikpoba-okha Local Government Area of Edo State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To assess the level of knowledge and the practice of exclusive breast feeding among female bankers.
2. To ascertain the attitude of female bankers towards the exclusive breastfeeding.
3. To find out the factors influencing the practice of exclusive breast feeding among female bankers.
4. To ascertain the measures of improving exclusive breast feeding to banking industry.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What is the level of knowledge of female bankers towards exclusive breast feeding?
• What are the factors influencing the effective practice of exclusive breast feeding among female bankers?
• What are the benefits of exclusive breast feeding among female bankers?
• What type of attitude is developed by female bankers towards the practice of exclusive breast feeding?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant level of female bankers with knowledge towards exclusive breast feeding
• H1: There is a significant level of female bankers with knowledge towards exclusive breast feeding

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There are no significant factors influencing the effective practice of exclusive breast feeding among female bankers
• H1: There are significant factors influencing the effective practice of exclusive breast feeding among female bankers

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1.7 Significance of Study

The following are the relevance of this research work, which entails that;

1. The study will generate dates concerning the breast feeding among female bankers
2. Promote the wellbeing of the children of female bankers.
3. It will increase the knowledge of female bankers towards the awareness of the benefits of exclusives breast feeding and suggest ways to overcome these challenges to successful practice of exclusive breast feeding.
4. It will ascertain the attitude of female bankers towards breast feeding.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study is limited to female bankers that are of child bearing age in Ikpoba Okha local government area of Edo State Nigeria.

It headquarters are in town of Idogbo. It has an area of 862km2 and a population of 371,106 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 300.

There are about ……… bank in Ikpoba Okha L.G.A it has about …… Number of female bankers.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Operational Definition of Terms

These are precise descriptions of how to derive a value for characteristics the researcher is measuring. It also entails how specific these characteristics are;

Exclusive breastfeeding: This means giving a baby only breast milk, and no other liquids or solids, not even water unless medically indicated. This should be for the first 6 months (NIYCF, 2007).

Exclusive Replacement Feeding: This is the process of feeding a child who is not breastfeeding with a diet that provides all the nutrients the child needs until the child is fully fed on family foods. Infant formula is recommended for exclusive replacement feeding when AFASS (Acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe) is met (NIYCF, 2007).

Heat Treated Expressed Breast milk: This means that a mother expresses breast milk and heats it so that the HIV present in breast milk is destroyed making it safe to feed the infant (NIYCF, 2007),

Wet Nursing: This refers to breastfeeding by another woman, who is HIV-negative. This may only be considered in special situations such as in case of an orphaned infant and the family cannot meet AFASS. The wet nurse should be tested every three months (NIYCF, 2007).

Infant: A baby under one year of age or from birth to 12 months of age (NIYCF, 2007),

Knowledge: To have information in one's mind as a result of experience or because you have learned or been told (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 2005).

Attitude: The way one thinks feels or behaves about somebody or something (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 2005).

Bottle feeding: Feeding an infant from a bottle, whatever is in the bottle including expressed milk (NIYCF, 2007).

Breast milk substitute: Any food being marketed or otherwise represented as a partial or total replacement for breast milk, whether or not suitable for that purpose (NIYCF, 2007).

Complementary feeding: Child receives both breast milk or a breast substitute and solid (or semi-solid) food, recommended from the time the baby is 6 months old (NIYCF, 2007).

Complementary food: Any food, whether manufactured or locally prepared; suitable as a complement to breast milk or to infant formula when either becomes insufficient to satisfy the nutritional requirements of the infant (NIYCF, 2007).